NHL will never be the same

'It's not a certainty but it's widely speculated the next step in this dispute will be the filing of an impasse by the league with the respective labor boards in the United States and Canada. As the majority of NHL franchises are located in the U.S., it's anticipated the league will file with the National Labor Relations Board first. It could take longer to get a decision from the Canadian boards since labor laws in Canada are done at the provincial rather than federal level and the laws differ in each province. Such a move would be potentially time-consuming, complex and fraught with legal pitfalls. Boiled down to its essence, if Bettman files for an impasse, he could point to the offers to increase the hard cap level and removing linkage of salaries to revenues as genuine attempts on his part to negotiate in good faith, painting the association as unwilling to compromise. Conversely, Goodenow could argue that his offers of a 24 percent salary rollback and acceptance of a higher cap level tied to revenue sharing nullify any claim of impasse from the league.'